I’m proud of being a Catholic. I love my church, the friendships I have within it, and everything that comes with those friendships. Most of all, I love the relationship I have with God, with Jesus and all the good that relationship has done for me. Yes my Protestant friends, Catholics believe in developing a relationship with God.

I was reminded in this when I saw a video posted by the chaplain at BU regarding the Church’s stance on homosexuality. For the record, I’m not gay. I’m a straight guy. But I still get questions on the Church’s stance on gay marriage because I’m a proud Catholic.

Relax, I have not become, not will I become a modern American liberal. I do not like Olbermann most of the time. I believe that he is a pompous and arrogant guy, and I disagree with his political views.

And also, I’ve not suddenly become a New York sports fan. Olbermann is a native of and devoted fan of the winning slate of New York sports. Which means Yankees, Rangers, Giants and Knicks, as opposed to the Mets, Nets, Jets, and Islanders. I’m still a Boston Sports fan.

I do agree with Olbermann on something though. I found a clip of his new show on ESPN where he discusses the problems of the selfie in sports today. He proposes that the need of fans to take selfies, to the point where people have run onto the field just to take selfies, is a danger to America.

AMEN!!!

Let that sink in. A conservative Boston sports fan is agreeing with Keith Olbermann on something. There is hope for compromise in this nation! I believe that the selfie is a problem, an annoying practice, and a waste of time! Why would we take pictures of ourselves, when we can take pictures of the game going on? And why would people run onto the field to put themselves in the way of physical harm for the purpose of taking a selfie? We’ve gone too far and need to resort to serious means of rooting this out.

Watch the video and see of you can see tinges of my thoughts in Olbermann.

I’m a founding member of the BU Knights of Columbus. We have a beautiful charter from the Supreme Knights Council that shows all the founding members of our circle. We’ve had it for a while but we didn’t get it hung until today.

This afternoon, before holding a beautiful Polish feast to honor the Canonization of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, Wes Woods and I got to work on the charter. We put white backing on it, put the frame back together, and hung it. I realized in this process that hanging a thing like that is not easy. It takes a good deal of patience to get it level and secure. You need to find the right part of the wall to ensure that the nails won’t fall out. And the wire to hang it has to be tightly knotted to keep it sturdy.

This project took us about an hour in total to do. It looks nice now! It decorates the 1st floor of our building. It’s a sign that the Knights are a serious organization and we can be a real part of the Catholic community here.

The other good piece of the deal for me is that I got to do a weekend project! My dad does a lot of those sorts of projects at our home. Raking leaves, going on the roof, setting up the fountain, setting up a bench outside, or anything similar. He has me help on some projects because I can help, and I enjoy it! It’s so fun doing hands on projects like that. It’s something you can look at with some pride. You can say “I did that”. It helps the people around me, and I get the satisfaction of completing a good task.

My group handed in the Capstone project today. That was the biggest project I’ve ever been a part of and I’m happy that it’s now in. I’m not quite done with the whole process. The Oral Defense still has to be made for the project. But the bulk of the work is now done! Which also means the bulk of my work for CGS is now done! That’s the best feeling I’ve had in a while.

I’ve enjoyed my time in CGS, but it’s time for me to move on. I’m ready to get into my major material, into subjects that truly interest me.

The reason this post has it’s title is because of the gift I received from the CGS Student Government. It’s a sweet glass beer mug. With the BU logo and Capstone 2014 on it. I look forward to when I can legally drink beer out of it!

Our professors offered us free drinks when we are 21 if we come back and visit. I take that as a sign that we’ve grown up and have moved up in age and maturity. I’m happy about this!

The picture today is one from 2008 of my brother and I when we visited Ireland on a family vacation. I’ve gotten older and more mature since this picture was taken. I used to fight and jaw with my brother almost everyday. We drove our parents crazy doing that. I’m happy to say I fight with my brother much less now. We’ve become better friends and respect each other more

I got to actually talk to my brother today. I called home to update my mom on how I’m doing with my last two papers and scheduling for the end of the semester. After that, I called my brother. He’s a graduate student at the University of Vermont studying Greek and Latin, trying to become a classics professor. This was the first time in a few weeks that I’ve talked with him, so we talked for a while. By a while I mean almost 2 hours.

Our conversation ranged from planning my vigilantism paper, to our thoughts and qualms with the practice of asking the Saints for intercessions, to our experiences in our respective school’s Catholic communities, to the current standing of the Red Sox. We even talked about funny YouTube videos that we’d like to watch. We have lots of interests and thoughts on most things in the world around us. There’s interesting stuff to look at and learn about! It’s fun to consider it all, especially with a person who’s I respect and to a certain extent, envy.

I always wish I were as smart as my brother. I believe he is smarter than me, a better writer, and a more complete thinker than I am. While I do wish I had the skills of my brother, listening to him taught me a lesson, that we have exactly the same background, as we have the same family, but we have some different takes on important topics, and it is a good thing that we have different skills. Our conversations would be tremendously boring if we had the same skill set and thoughts on political and faith issues. It’s a reminder that diversity of thought can exist between siblings and a reminder that diversity of thought and skills are most important kinds possible.

I look forward to seeing my brother soon, as our semesters are coming to an end!

This is the first time I’ve done political posts on consecutive days with this blog. But today it is necessary, because it is a fascinating story! Two days ago, the Supreme Court ruled on a case in Michigan regarding that state’s ban on Affirmative Action. It ruled that the ban, which had been passed by a proper referendum, was reasonable and could not be overturned by the court.

In recent days, much of the discussion has centered around whether or not the ban itself was just. The scathing dissent by Justice Sotomayor was all about how the ban was unjust and unreasonable. And most of the stories I’ve read are all about the debate over Affirmative Action.

I personally do not agree with Affirmative Action, and I do not believe that it is truly fair. I believe in a meritocracy, or at least as close as we can come to it, and I believe that Affirmative Action will not help us get there.

The decision on Affirmative Action is not the piece of the decision that actually makes me happy. The part of the decision that makes me happy is not being talked about and it’s not surprising that it’s not being discussed. The ruling was effectively that it’s not just to overturn a ban voted on in a proper referendum by the people of a given state, town, or county. The precedent that sets is that a referendum will stand, period.

As discussed by people like Jay Severin on TheBlaze and legal professor Alan Dershowitz, this is the first time a decision like that has come down in a long time, where Federalism has been promoted instead of torn down and opposed.

This is what I’m happy about. Federalism made a serious comeback in this decision. It was a beautiful victory for individual freedom, liberty, and personal responsibility to make your opinion heard in the political world. This will have a big effect on the midterm election this fall, with people taking up more referendums in their home states. And yes, there are college students like me who exist! It’s a miracle!

I’m also intentionally using “Happy Days are Here Again” because that song is a liberal theme, and I’m using it against them now. Just showing my inner troll.